Oreos- of the homemade variety

today i MADE oreos.. yeah. =]

This was my Facebook status this morning, and here is the story, the how-to and the where from of it all.  A few days ago I was cruising through stumbleupon, because its my new favorite toy, and came across this sugarcooking.blogspot.com of course this sent me into a fit of excitement and I immediately bookmarked the page before continuing to "stumble" around the internet.  So I got the few necessary ingredients that I didn't already have in my stockpile of baking supplies, mainly the cocoa, there wasn't a huge selection of cocoa at Kroger in fact there was pretty much just Hershey's or the store brand and the dutch double process was not even an option, so I got Hershey's because there was really only a 10 cent difference in price so why not, right? Anyway so I got up this morning and found on the kitchen table this:

So after making the banana nut muffins that were so clearly requested by my parents (they're daddy's favorite) I made myself an omelet and began gathering my oreo supplies from the cabinets. 

I started following along exactly as the recipe instructed..

Mixing the flour, cocoa and sugar, then adding the baking soda and powder

Then turned and noticed the two little guys waiting desperately for anything to fall on the floor, they're my little clean up crew =] they were too cute and hopeful looking to not post on here

Thats Emmitt on the right with the giant ears and Hank on the left looking as cute as possible in hopes of getting scraps thrown to them =]

But back to the baking..

Mix all the solid stuff real good..

Then add in the butter (I soften it in the microwave for 10sec before putting it in so it mixes a little better)

The mixer will do most of the work for you but you may have to break it up a little with a knife or a fork (please stop the mixer before sticking things in there, I shouldn't have to say that but..)

It will get kinda clumpy, then add in the egg

I had to add in an extra egg to get it moist enough, it was all dry clumpy-ness, I also added a little bit of milk and by little bit I mean like a tablespoon, just enough to give it a little hold. 

So then you roll little balls, little. 

Seriously little..

Then smoosh it, they should be right around the size of a quarter this one is slightly bigger, I have small hands so don't let that be a size guide. 

Put them on a cookie sheet, I used wax paper to make reuse, cooling and cleanup a little easier, remember to keep them relatively the same size, its important. Then bake them. Once they're all baked and cooled or while they're cooling make the frosting, it's pretty basic so I didn't take step by step pictures but follow the recipe and it'll turn out, then put it in a baggie, any baggie will do but i recommend freezer baggies, I used a regular sandwich bag and ended up popping a hole in the side and covering my hands in frosting, which was fine because it gave me an excuse to taste test it... when putting it in the bag though if you fold the zipper part over it holds the bag open for you.

Cut a hole in the (bottom) corner of the bag and squeeze out the frosting onto the flat side of one of the cookies

Find a cookie that matches in size..

line them up..

and smoosh! =]

Feel free to lick the mixer clean =D

This is why size really does matter.. PLEASE don't make the same mistake I did, these aren't exactly attractive though they do taste just as good, I only had one like this though the rest were much better matched

and there you have an oreo <3 

This is what they SHOULD look like =]

This is almost exactly how much the recipe makes, I only ate about 2 cookies worth of dough and only 2 or 3 cookies prior to icing and managed to take this picture before testing my end results.  Which are really good, I was mildy disappointed mostly because my hopes were set overly high but overall I'm happy with them. 

Heres the recipe:

For the chocolate wafers:

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa*
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 to 1 1/2 cups sugar**
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) room-temperature, unsalted butter
• 1 large egg

For the filling:

• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) room-temperature, unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup vegetable shortening
• 2 cups sifted confectioners sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Set two racks in the middle of the oven. Preheat to 375°F.
2. In a food processor, or bowl of an electric mixer, thoroughly mix the flour, cocoa, baking soda and powder, salt, and sugar. While pulsing, or on low speed, add the butter, and then the egg. Continue processing or mixing until dough comes together in a mass.
3. Take rounded teaspoons of batter and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet approximately two inches apart. With moistened hands, slightly flatten the dough. Bake for 9 minutes, rotating once for even baking. Set baking sheets on a rack to cool.
4. To make the cream, place butter and shortening in a mixing bowl, and at low speed, gradually beat in the sugar and vanilla. Turn the mixer on high and beat for 2 to 3 minutes until filling is light and fluffy.
5. To assemble the cookies, in a pastry bag with a 1/2 inch, round tip, pipe teaspoon-size blobs of cream into the center of one cookie. Place another cookie, equal in size to the first, on top of the cream. Lightly press, to work the filling evenly to the outsides of the cookie. Continue this process until all the cookies have been sandwiched with cream. Dunk generously in a large glass of milk.

*As I said I used the Hershey's Natural Unsweetened Cocoa (its in the picture)

** I used 1 1/4 C because I always go middle of the road when in question and it worked out fine.

Happy Baking,

Enjoy! =]